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Pregnancy test

A pregnancy test measures a hormone in the bodycalled human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). HCG is a hormone produced during pregnancy. It appears in the blood and urine of pregnant women as early as 10 days after conception.

How the Test is Performed

A pregnancy test isdone using blood or urine. There are two types of blood tests:

Qualitative, which measures whether the HCG hormone is present

Quantitative, which measures how much HCG is present

The blood test is done by drawing a single tube of blood and sending it to a laboratory. You may wait anywhere from a few hours to more than a day to get the results.

The urine HCG test is usually performed by placing a drop of urine on a prepared chemical strip. It takes 1-2 minutes for a result.

How the Test Will Feel

For the urine test, you urinate into a cup.

For theblood test, the health care provider uses a needle and syringe todraw blood from your vein into a tube. Any discomfort you might feel from the blood draw will only last a few seconds.

Why the Test is Performed

This testis done to:

Determine if you are pregnant.

Diagnose abnormal conditions that can raise HCG levels.

Watch the development of the pregnancy during the first2 months (quantitative test only).

Normal Results

HCG level rises rapidly during the first trimester of pregnancy and then slightly declines.

What Abnormal Results Mean

HCG level should almost double every 48 hours in the beginning of a pregnancy. HCG level that does not rise appropriately may indicate a problem with your pregnancy. Problemsrelatedto an abnormally rising HCG level include miscarriage and ectopic (tubal) pregnancy.

Miscarriage

A miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of a fetus before the 20th week of pregnancy. (Pregnancy losses after the 20th week are called preterm deliver...

Considerations

Urine pregnancy tests will only be positive when you haveenough HCG in your blood. If you are very early in your pregnancy, and the HCG level is below 25-50 mIU/mL, the test will be negative. The level is higher if your urine is more concentrated. So a good time totest iswhen you first get up in the morning.

If you think you are pregnant, repeat the pregnancy test at home or at your health care provider's office.

Pregnancy test - illustration

The qualitative urine human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) test is a pregnancy test that can be performed at home by a woman to determine pregnancy. To perform the test the woman places the test strip, which has a chemically sensitive substance, under her urine stream. Within minutes the test reveals whether the woman is positive (pregnant), or negative (not pregnant).

Pregnancy test

illustration

Pregnancy test - illustration

The qualitative urine human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) test is a pregnancy test that can be performed at home by a woman to determine pregnancy. To perform the test the woman places the test strip, which has a chemically sensitive substance, under her urine stream. Within minutes the test reveals whether the woman is positive (pregnant), or negative (not pregnant).